He twisted around as he fell and sent another fireball flying. His angle was way off, though, and it ended up hitting the ceiling. This time he made sure to close his eyes, but the creatures weren’t so lucky, as he heard several of them groan in pain.

Unfortunately, when Fort opened his eyes again, he found that his fireball had knocked out most of the globes of light dotting the roof of the cavern, leaving the room even darker than it had been.

He scrambled back to his feet, holding the staff diagonally before him like Sergeant Tower had taught them. As one of the red-eyed creatures stumbled close to him, still blinded, Fort swept out with his staff at its hand, trying to disarm the creature.

Instead, as it hit, the staff glowed blue, and Fort felt a cold energy pass from the weapon into the creature.

The creature paused, then took a step back. “Ah, I think it healed my hand,” it growled, low and guttural.

“What is it?” another one rasped.

“Looks like another human,” said a third.

“Yes!” Fort shouted, holding his staff in a defensive position, even if it was apparently useless at anything beyond healing. “I am human, and I’m not here to hurt you.”

Several of the creatures laughed at that, which wasn’t exactly comforting.

“You, hurt us?” one said, and a high-pitched whirling noise was the only warning Fort had before a wooden object slammed into his face, knocking him back to the ground.

He shook off the hit and immediately tried to push to his knees, but froze as something cold and sharp pushed into his neck. “I meant to say, I don’t mean any harm,” Fort said, wincing as the blade bit into his skin. “I came looking for another human, one older than me. Have you seen him?”

This time, one of them sighed, almost sadly.

“We know where he is, yeah,” one of them said.

“But you don’t want to see him,” said another. “It’s best you go before they find out you’re here.”

“If it’s not already too late,” said the first.

Fort gritted his teeth. Of all the people discouraging him from finding his father, the last beings he’d expected to do so were the monsters who’d taken him. “I’m not leaving without him.”

“Then you’re a fool,” said one of the creatures. “We’re trying to do right by you. But if they find out you’re here, then we won’t have a choice.”

“They’ll make us take you to Dragon’s Teeth, just like we did the one you’re looking for.”